To the Power Born: A Tale of the Slayers
Part 38: Secondary Assault
Friday daytime went long and slow and lazy. By the time lunch came around, I didn't need the cane anymore, had gotten down to a slight limp. No PE still, but I'd be allowed to train at home Saturday, and be back in full fighting form by Monday.
Friday when I got home from school, since I couldn't train, I let Colin kidnap me. We made love for an hour or so, then snuggled until time for my appointment with Diane. That went well— even though I think she might have been worried that it wouldn't.
"So, I hear you kicked ass and took names Wednesday night, Jocelyn," Diane said after we'd settled into our usual chairs. "How do you feel about that?"
"I managed to save most of my team," I said, smiling a little sadly. "As much as could be saved, Nadia died too soon for me to do anything about it. I feel… pretty damned happy with myself. Also very grateful to Graham for the explosive crazy-discs. Overall? I'm good with being on a team again, totally good with it."
"Do you think you're ready to lead a team yet?" Diane asked, her voice level.
"No, not yet," I said with a sigh. "Diane… there's a difference between being willing to work with a team, working to save a team— and leading one. I can pull my weight, I'm confident of that much now, but leading? Deciding on tactics, putting the lives of other Slayers and of Guardians and Watchers on those decisions? No. No, not yet."
"You made a decision Wednesday night, Jocelyn," Diane pointed out. "A big one, one that saved lives."
"Yes, but— but that wasn't about how to do things," I said, searching for the right words. "That was an escape, not an assault, Diane, and it's different. Besides, that decision wasn't based on me being a better leader than Alina— it was all about me having the needed equipment."
Diane smiled widely and said, "Okay, good. I was afraid you'd be too cocky too quickly. You aren't going that route, thank you.
"Okay, no leading. How would you feel about soloing?"
"I… don't think I'm ready." I shook my head, pushed my hair back and thought for a moment before continuing. "I would if it was necessary. If there needed to be Slayers in a dozen places, and I was one of only twelve available Slayers? Yes, I'd go. I'd be scared out of my tiny-rabbit-mind, but I'd do it."
"Also a good answer," Diane said, giving me a nod. "Okay.
"Have you had any bad dreams about that night, Jocelyn?"
We talked until almost supper, then went to eat— and found out that Judith hadn't been kidding when she said her parents' housekeeper had taught her to cook. Lamb chops in this orange glaze stuff that had a hint of mint to it, roasted potatoes that were spicy enough to get Xander to notice that they were spicy (not easy, that— he has an asbestos tongue), fresh peas and baby carrots, and these slightly sweet yeasty rolls that had me drooling for more.
I had cleanup duty that night with Riley, and after we'd finished, I let Colin and Piper kidnap me for a while. Judith still wanted company— her nightmares had backed way down, but not stopped— so I'd be staying with her that night.
I came back down about nine-thirty, freshly showered and still a little dazed from the sex and snuggling, found Judith working with Joyce on her voice while accompanying her on the guitar she'd brought over from the music room in the guest house. I joined most everyone else in listening to that, then walked with Judith out to the guest house to put the guitar back about ten-thirty. When we came back, Judith went to talk to Colin for a minute while I told my folks, Gwen and my sibs good night.
When we got downstairs, Judith said, "I need a shower, I think. I shan't be long, Jocelyn."
I sat on the bed and read (aloud, so Ripley could hear) while Judith got clean. When she came back in, dressed in sweats and a T-shirt as usual, her hair was up and wrapped in a towel. She asked me to brush it for her, and I did, sitting up on my knees on the bed while I dried her hair thoroughly, then brushed out the incipient tangles. Once I was done, Judith dropped that bomb of the best kind that I mentioned a while ago on me.
"Jocelyn," Judith said, her voice low and soft and very serious, "would you braid my hair for me, please?"
I sat with my mouth open, stunned, for a long moment, remembering what she'd said the night that she'd come here, when I'd offered to braid it for her.
"That I'll do myself," Judith had said, blushing deeply and smiling a slightly embarrassed smile. "I know it's odd, but for me that is… very intimate." I'd looked puzzled, and she'd said "Mother allowed no one to braid her hair besides Father, and I could see the… intimacy in that act, the few times I saw it, so it has assumed that same significance in my mind."
I knew what she was offering— and before I could screw things up, I heard Ripley's voice in my head.
*Is okay, you love her,* Ripley said. *Judith knows you love others. They know she wanted this. She talk to them, tell them that yes, she love them— but not ready to show that this way, not yet. They understand— they love her back. All want you both happy. You love her as you love them, Colin, Piper, they be happy for you both. Judith, she needs one at a time at first, she knows that, they know that. After been with each alone, wants to be with all. Is harder for her, she must not hurry, for how her world was. But she wants, truly wants— and others want, too. They both tell me tell you to do this, be happy. So don't be silly, I not want to bite you.*
How do you argue with logic like that, let alone the threat of baby-pseudo-dragon bites?
"Are you sure?" I asked, stroking that thick, onyx hair with one hand.
"I'm very sure," Judith said, her voice soft and low. "I… have known for many years that I find both sexes attractive. I never thought… I never even dreamed of being comfortable with that, not before I came here. Now… I love you, Jocelyn Penobscot. I love those you are already in love with, though… I need some time before I move to loving them physically, I think, and still more time before I am able to love all of you physically at once. I've spoken to the others, they know—"
"I know, Judith," I said from where I still knelt up behind her. "Ripley gave me a message from them so that I'd know they know, know that they're all okay with this." I ran my fingers through her hair, started separating it into three thick strands, began the work of braiding them together. I felt Judith shiver, heard her make a low, pleased sound in her throat, and knew that it had been a shiver of pleasure. "I'm past okay with it, I hope you know that. I found you attractive pretty much right away, learned to love you really fast, and fell in love with you almost that quick.
"I'm so glad that it works both ways that even trying to tell you would be pointless. I love you, Judith Holmes."
"I love you, too, Jocelyn Penobscot." Judith shifted just a little to make it easier for me to work, and I heard amusement in her voice as she said, "However, given the examples set by my parents… do try not to be upset if I should fall into the habit of calling you 'Penobscot.' "
I chuckled, remembering how her mother and father had called each other 'Holmes' and 'Russell' all through the books, even after they were married, and even in situations that might be called intimate. "I won't be upset— but it may be hysterically funny to watch Giles's face the first time you do it in front of him."
Even though my horniness had climbed through the roof, I took my time braiding Judith's hair, did it slowly, carefully and correctly, made it as sensual as I could. As I wrapped a braided elastic around the base of the braid to hold it together, Ripley snuggled into Judith's arms for a moment, then came to snuggle against me for a hug before flapping to the door— open just a crack— and wiggling out. We both knew that she'd come back after we'd made love, not before.
Judith turned to face me, sitting sideways on the bed, and kissed me. She hadn't done it much before, I could tell, but still… I melted up against her, moaned into her mouth… and we made love.
It went slow, much more so than is usual for me, but she needed it that way, and I wouldn't have frightened or rushed her for the world. So… slow it was.
Judith looked different, nude. Still skinny, but not as skinny. We made love for a long time, didn't stop until after one, and fell asleep tangled up like baby pseudo dragons, with Ripley asleep on the pillow above our heads.
When we came up together the next morning holding hands, only my brother Stephen looked at all surprised. Mom and Dad just looked at each other and Gwen, then held out their hands to her. Gwen sighed and handed each of them a quarter (which set me to giggling and Judith to blushing). Piper kissed me good morning first, then hugged Judith when she passed me to Colin to kiss. He did the same, kissed me, hugged her, and it felt… extremely right.
As we trooped over to Scooby Mansion for breakfast, I walked with my folks and said, "No more school nights with Judith— not like you didn't know that, but I thought I ought to say it."
"Now, don't go gettin' too honest on me, sugar," Mom said, hugging me one-armed and kissing my cheek. "Girl's still in a little pain, still a little lost. She needs you, you stay with her— and that's a damn order. I just ask that you keep it to snugglin', if that comes around on a week night."
"Okay," I said, and returned Mom's kiss. "Daddy, is that okay with you?"
"Honey-girl, I learned a long time ago never to argue with your mother once her mind's made up," Daddy said. He squeezed Gwen, walking on his other side, and added, "It's a good habit with this one, too— so I'm actually grateful for your mother's stubborn ways.
"You stay with Judith when she needs you— considered the decision ratified."
"Thanks, Daddy, thanks Mom," I said. "I love you guys. Lucked out big time in the parent department— three times, even, cause I love you, too, Gwen."
"An' a better set of adopted children a girl could not ask for, to be sure," Gwen said, and blew me a kiss. "Here now— you're of a like mind to me, I'm thinkin' Jocelyn. Your father objects to the name I'd give our child, should he be a son. What is it you think of the name Owen Whitelaw Penobscot?"
"I like it," I said, and stuck my tongue out when Daddy glared and growled. "It gives him Daddy's name without saddling him with a name you wouldn't give a kid. It's just a middle name, Dad, lighten up. And I really like the name Owen."
"Okay, okay," Dad said, rolling his eyes. "I'm outvoted, I get it. But if it is a boy, and you do name him Owen Whitelaw, when he asks me why he's got such a god-awful middle name? I'm pointing at whichever of you is closest."
"What have you got for a girl?" I asked.
"On that, we agree, at least," Gwen said, and kissed Daddy's cheek. "Should I have a girl, her name will be Alyssa Michelle Penobscot, the Michelle being for Whitey's mother."
"That is seriously pretty," I said. "I sort of hope it's a girl, now."
"As do I," Gwen said, and leaned forward to grin at me across Daddy's chest. "If for no other reason than it gives us one more ally in the battle to keep him behavin', it does."
"I'm so henpecked," Daddy said as we entered Scooby Mansion, "that I'm pathetic."
"Welcome to the club," Xander said, having caught that part of the conversation. "Buffy says 'ice cream,' I say, 'what flavor?' "
"He's well-trained," Buffy agreed, and kissed Xander briefly.
The day went well. I eased back into training, had no troubles after I worked out the stiffness in my calf. I took a good look at it while stretching, discovered that, as usual, Aunt Dawn's treatment had left a smaller scar than a doctor would have. All I had left of that injury was a thin white line, almost a complete oval. I could live with that.
I stayed with Judith again that night, and the sex stayed marvelous. (Not that I ignored my other lovers— I spent the mid-to-late afternoon in bed with first Piper, then Colin joined us, then Piper slipped out for a while left me and Colin alone for a bit, then came back and wouldn't let me leave, since she and Colin were getting alone time when I was with Judith. Even the incredible horndog that is me was pretty well sated by suppertime.)
We came to up breakfast the next morning to discover Buffy, Xander and Joyce already there, and Joyce was so bubbly that she almost floated.
"Leia's eggs hatched about three this morning!" Joyce said. "After breakfast do you guys want to come see them?"
That met with a rousing "yes!"— of course. About then Ian came down, and Joyce was so bubbly-happy that she did something she'd never done in front of anyone else before then, and certainly not in front of her parents; she grabbed him and kissed the ever-loving heck out of him.
"Uh, good morning," Ian said, blushing furiously— but grinning happily. "What was that for? Is it something that's likely to happen again? If so, how do I make it happen again?"
"Leia's eggs hatched!" Joyce said— and Ian grinned and hugged her, his blush fading already (probably helped by neither Buffy nor Xander making a big deal of the kiss).
"Okay, I can't make that happen again, but it will happen again— good enough," Ian said.
Breakfast was a merry affair, what with the prospect of more pseudo dragon babies. After breakfast, Joyce got up and said, "Judith, you want to see them now?"
"Of course, please," Judith said. She stood, extended a hand to me and said, "Coming, Penobscot?"
I took her hand, stood, and kissed her briefly, said, "Wouldn't miss it, Holmes."
Giles almost choked on his tea at that— priceless!
The five babies were as cute as baby pseudo dragons always are. Two blues, one sky-bright, one navy, one a funny shade of dusty red that Judith called "Persian red," one a brilliant, bright silver, like polished chrome, and the last of the hatchlings was a bright shade of orange-gold, and had a metallic look to him.
Judith couldn't stop staring at and (once Leia gave permission) petting the babies, all of whom loved her— though maybe the little orange-gold boy liked her more than most….
We finally left and went home, spent the day goofing off in lots of neat little ways… nothing strenuous or notable happened at all. Nifty. And relaxing.
Monday evening, Judith disappeared with Piper right after supper, and when they came back down at bedtime, I knew that they had made love just from looking at them— good! I spent the night with Judith, just snuggled as I'd agreed with my parents, but she wanted the company.
Tuesday night, Judith slept alone, and seemed okay Wednesday morning.
Thursday night, after supper, Judith was sitting in the music room in the guest house, playing the piano and singing idly, when the little orange-gold baby pseudo dragon flew over (he'd been flying since that morning) and landed on her shoulder, seemed perfectly content to sit there and listen, his head bobbing and swinging in time with the music. When she finished the piece she was playing, he burble-peeped and nudged her cheek with his head. She turned to smile at him— and her eyes went wide even as a huge smile spread across her face.
"Oh, thank you!" she said, and kissed the baby pseudo dragon on the top of his head. She turned to grin at the rest of us and said, "This young man has told me that his name is Dashiell— named for my dearest adult friend from my original Earth, Dashiell Hammett, I'm sure— and that he intends to stay with me."
We whooped and cheered, and Judith stopped playing for a few minutes to cuddle Dashiell before returning to playing at her pseudo dragon friend's insistence.
As we walked back to the house after a while, Dashiell on Judith's shoulder, she said, "I wouldn't have met Dashiell Hammett in the novels Laurie King has written yet, I suppose. I met him when my parents took me with them to San Francisco in thirty-three, and they ended up helping him with a case. They'd met him when they were there on their trip right before I was conceived, come to like him. He became my friend very quickly— he was a wonderful man, never treated me as a child, spoke to me as an adult, as my parents did— and gave me copies of the four novels he'd published by then, autographed each. We maintained correspondence, and he sent me autographed copies of each of his novels. I miss him, of course— but Dashiell the second, here, will help with that, I'm sure."
"You bet he will," I said, kissing Ripley's head. "Trust me, I know. Ripley keeps me from missing Royal too much— I just miss him in the good way, now, if you get me?— and Royal made missing Alex, Joyce's brother, bearable."
"Yes, I can readily believe it," Judith said. (She'd read Aunt Rose's book by then, asked someone why Royal wasn't with me still, and gotten the full story.) She looked thoughtful, then said, "You know, in all the rush to learn things about the history and ways of both this world and your family, I've yet to learn anything serious about technology. Perhaps I should—"
"Our," I interrupted.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Our family, Judith. Not just mine. Yours, too."
"I… oh, dammit, Penobscot, you've made me lose my train of thought." She kissed me, nodded at me and said, "Our family, thank you— and you were quite correct to make the distinction.
"Now, if I may continue— perhaps I should learn something more about your technology. After all I do enjoy the sciences."
"Talk to Brian Keller," I said as we headed inside. "He'll have to check with Giles first, I think, but I'm pretty sure Giles will okay it. After all, you saw the patterns of the vamp attacks, so we already know you can help us, want to help us— and knowing more about today's technology may help with that."
"An excellent idea," Judith said— and we went in and eventually to bed in our separate rooms.
In the morning, Judith didn't come up right away for breakfast. In her delight at her new friendship with Dashiell, she'd forgotten to set an alarm. I went down to wake her, cracked the door— and wished like hell for a camera. Judith lay flat on her back, sheets kicked to the foot of the bed, and Dashiell was curled into a tight little gold-orange ball on her stomach— under the arch of the long, slender fingers of one of Judith's hands. Cute!
Things stayed quiet for a while, another week. Judith made love with Colin Wednesday evening of that week, and said that she wanted to sleep with all of us some time soon, which we all looked forward to.
Saturday morning, the very early morning of September 22nd of 2018, Warren again attacked Team Slayer— and things got crazy-hard-and-heavy after that.
Judith had gone off to sleep with Piper, and probably to make love with her, so I'd gone to sleep with Colin. I woke at about three in the morning to Ripley's insistent calling in my head.
*Jocelyn, you must wake,* Ripley said. *You are needed. All active Slayers are needed— Piper and Colin, too, but Hulk and Twilight wake them. You go to library in Scooby Mansion. I not know what wrong, but Bookmark angry— and scared.*
Giles's pseudo dragon pal angry and scared— not good, very bad. "I'm moving."
Five minutes later, I was in the library of Scooby Mansion with the rest of the active Slayers, in school or out, plus… well, most everyone else. Even Ian and Judith were there, and Joyce Harris sat with her dad, looking worried.
Kelly Giles sat at the table at the head of the room with Giles standing behind her and Aunt Rose beside her, and she and Aunt Rose were both crying.
As soon as the last of us had sat down, Giles said, "I am again trapped by circumstances into stating something baldly that I wish I could take the time to say more gently; our Montana branch of the Giles Academy— and of Team Slayer— has been attacked. We got very little before the communications were cut off, but it sounds as though there's been a… a massacre. We do know that Mary and Stephen Osborne, Kelly's sister and her husband, have been killed."
We sat stunned for a moment, then Joyce spat, "Warren! It was him wasn't it!?"
"In all likelihood, yes," Giles said. He polished his glasses, paused to squeeze Kelly's shoulder, and said, "The report we received came from a young trainee, and she was… close to panic. She did, however, mention that she had seen vampires, many other supernatural creatures— and robots.
"We shall take our jet out there immediately, as Willow cannot reach their on-site witch telepathically, so cannot open a gate for us."
"Wait," Colin said. "Could Dawn open things at that end, if she was there? Or Sh'rin?"
"Yes, of course, but— oh, bloody hell, I'm too old for this!" Giles said, rubbing his temples with one hand. "How long would it take you to get one of them there?"
"Open country, unfamiliar site— better allow me half an hour, sir," Colin said. "I'll get changed, whichever of you is going get what you need."
Aunt Dawn stood up, kissed her family goodbye, and strode out of the room, moving at almost a run.
"All right," Giles said. "The rest of you… this is likely to be dangerous beyond the telling, so I want all of you to wear your armor. Go get changed, meet— Willow?"
"Big diagram for bigger door, so no one has to go through solo," Wil said. "Make it the back yard here."
The doors to the library flew open, and my little sister Belinda came running in with my brother Stephen on her heels— and everyone paid attention.
"Mi Kyong has to go!" Belinda said, stopping herself in front of Giles and grabbing his arms. "She has to go to be able to see and remember! And you have to take everyone here, too, Giles, even Joyce and Ian and Judith, because everyone has a part to play— and you should call Uncle Ethan and… and listen to the head because it can't lie, and the web-guy, he'll be calling and you have to listen— or it all falls down!"
"She just— I heard her door slam and I thought I should follow her," my brother Stephen said into the sudden, shocked silence.
"All right, Stephen, you did the right thing," Daddy said. "But you go on back now, in case Danielle wakes up scared. We'll be along in a couple of minutes, we'll explain then, okay?"
"Yes, sir," Stephen said. He hesitated, then hugged Dad, Mom and Belle before coming over to hug me and leaving.
"All right," Giles said. "Belinda, is there anything else you can tell us?"
"I… let me think." My little sister, looking far too resolute and grim for a ten-year old, closed her eyes and muttered softly to herself. After most of a minute, she sighed and said, "One more thing, but it doesn't even make as much sense as the rest of what I said. Stupid Powers!"
"Tell us, sweetie," Mom said softly.
"You have to trust confusion's end," Belinda said. "You have to let… let the reborn follow what she knows to be true, even if it make no sense."
"All right, Belinda," Giles said, and bent to hug her. "Thank you, dear child— you may well have made it possible for us to prevent whatever deviltry Warren is up to, young lady, and I, for one, am very grateful."
"Okay," Belle said. She had tear tracks on her face, which scared me, but her voice stayed steady. "Okay. Everyone be careful, and… and you have to remember the other things I told you.
"This is it. This is their big attack. This is… how it starts. I know that, I just… don't know any more than that."
"All right, Belinda," Giles said. "We shall be careful, I promise— and we'll remember the things you've said, all of them.
"I think you should hug your family and go try to sleep, young lady."
Belle hugged Mom, Dad and Gwen, then came and hugged me super-hard. She looked up at me without letting go and said in a very soft voice, "Don't worry. Trust the Powers. Trust yourself. You have to trust yourself, Jocelyn. You have to."
"Okay, Belle," I said. I kissed her cheek, then said, "Go on home. I'll try to bring you a souvenir— maybe one of Warren's heads, you can use it for kickball."
She didn't even smile, just nodded, turned away— then froze in mid-turn, and looked at Joyce for a long moment. After that moment, Joyce felt Belinda's stare, and looked up at her. A moment after that, she slipped out from between her dad and Ian and came over to Belle, stopped in front of her and said, "Is there something I should know, Belinda?"
"Yes," said Belinda in a voice that sounded almost nothing like herself. "Yes. Your coming was seen by those who named your family to their natures— as was the coming of one other, about whom we may not speak yet. But you… there is something you must know, and as we are forbidden to tell you directly, we will tell you in two parts.
"First, know that to the Guardians of Sh'rin's time, you, Daughter of the Prime, Daughter of the Heart, are named what you do not now believe you can be; those women call you 'the Complete.'
"Second… when you see what cannot be, it is— and you must trust in that which you see."
"I… all right," Joyce said, looking and sounding a little shaken. "All right. Thank you."
Belle shook herself, looked around and said in her own, normal voice, "I did it again, didn't I? Did I say something good?"
"You did," Joyce said, and hugged my psychic little sister hard. "You did, Belle, thank you."
"Okay," Belle said. She squeezed my hand once, then said, "I'm going to bed— you guys can tell me about it when it's all over. And I expect the full story, not some 'edited for children' version."
She went off to bed, and I went to get changed and tell Mi Kyong that she was coming with us.
Fifteen minutes later, I gathered with the others in the back yard, where Willow was putting the finishing touches on her magic circles. I had on my armor— dark grey and black leather with metal and plastic reinforcements— and my START jacket and cap, worn as much for luck as anything else. Piper had her "regulation" armor on— but had added the white spider from her costume-version on a red circle, a couple of inches across, over her left breast. I liked it, and when Buffy saw it, she snickered and gave Piper a thumbs up.
Almost exactly half an hour after Colin and Aunt Dawn had left, Wil smiled a little and said, "Hey, Dawnie. Ready for the opening?"
We didn't hear Aunt Dawn's reply, but it must have been a yes, because Willow started an incantation, complete with lots of gestures and the whole magilla. A couple of minutes of that, and a hole opened in space, a hole edged with white light, and we saw a hillside, Aunt Dawn kneeling on it, and Colin— Starpulse, he was in costume— standing a ways behind her.
"By twos," Buffy called. "One Slayer in every pair, regardless. Willow last, since her passing through will close the gate."
With that, Buffy took Giles by the hand and stepped through the gate. The rest lined up by twos, and I went through with Mi Kyong, right behind Judith and Piper. (Piper counts as a slayer— with bonus powers.) As soon as we got there, we saw a whole freaking platoon of START soldiers off to one side, Graham at the front, a cargo helicopter just taking off from behind them.
Mi Kyong stiffened suddenly, and started walking that way, tugging me with her, and I went, though I wasn't sure why she wanted to go over there. As we walked, Mi Kyong whispered softly-but-urgently to Fog— and when we got close, I dropped her hand and went to stand at attention before Graham and salute (properly— he'd taught me how when I was a very little girl). He grinned, saluted back, and I dropped mine. He reached for me—
— and all hell broke loose behind him, as Mi Kyong threw herself at a START corporal, shrieking a kiai as she kicked the shocked soldier so hard that he flew back past the back of the formation as his fellow soldiers dodged aside and tried to restrain Mi Kyong, who'd already started after the man with murder in her eyes.